Healing
by thespectatorion
Summary: Haruno Sakura has the art of Healing, and this talent is wanted by a group of vigilante ninjas including the hot Uchiha Sasuke, the friendly Uzumaki Naruto, cranky Hyuuga Neji, the kind Tenten, and the creepy Subaku no Gaara. Pairings inside.
1. Chapter One

This is a slightly different AU. Ninjas are illegal here, but they are also employed. Bloodline limits work a little bit differently- or rather, I added Healer as one of them. The Tailed Beasts and Bijuu will be a little bit different too, and relations between the characters will be slightly different.

It will start off as seemingly SasuSaku. It is really GaaSaku. There will be Shonen Ai (not going to say who yet, but I think it's gonna be pretty obvious and I'm really sorry if you don't like the pairing). And NejiTen. If none of this bothers you, keep reading. :D

* * *

It was your average day in Konoha, but Haruno Hana was out of milk, which prompted a trip to the grocery store for Haruno Sakura.

It was heavily raining, though, which was not average, and Sakura practically ran to the store hoping that it would be a quick trip there and back.

Of course, this wasn't going to be the case.

She was poking around the back end of the store quietly. There was no one else there, and the storeowner was out at the moment, so she clutched her quart of milk and the money she was going to pay with and looked at the wanted posters.

That was when the door swung open.

"Tachibana Masaru? Payment time."

Sakura was staring at a particular one, of a boy named Uchiha Sasuke. He was really hot, and his crimes were against the king, which surprised Sakura. The king was, unusually, a very good one, and the poor of the country were many in number but happy and the rich were few in number but generally kind. Who would commit a crime against him?

Then she looked at the doorway.

To her shock stood exactly the same spiky-haired boy that she had just been staring at.

"You're- you're-"

Uchiha Sasuke stared at her.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she finished.

"I see you know my name," he said quietly. He really had a beautiful voice to match his face.

"What's taking so long?" chimed in an annoying-sounding voice.

"There's a girl here, I didn't see her before."

"Oh, Sasu-chan, you're losing it."

"Shut up, dobe. It doesn't appear that Tachibana's here."

"...Great. Now what?"

"We take the payment from the cash register?"

"Then what about the girl?"

The boy's head poked in the doorway. Sakura gaped at him, too, and then turned around to see if he was on the wall, too. He was.

He was the personification of sunlight, all yellow-blonde hair and cheerful grin. He had odd whiskers across his cheeks, and the wanted poster identified him as Uzumaki Naruto.

"Oh, she has pretty hair!"

"That's too bad, I have to offer her the choice," Sasuke said quietly, nearly to himself.

"Don't kill her."

It was a third voice.

"I'm just going to offer her a choice, Gaara," said Sasuke idly, and pulled out a sword. The light flashing off of it left a dark spot in Sakura's eyes.

_This is not real this can't be happening he's about to kill me_

"She's a Healer."

"You sure?"

"I'm never wrong. What do you think, Naruto?" the voice she assumed to be "Gaara" asked.

"Oh! You're right! Sasu-chan, she _is _a Healer."

"If you say so. Then, she has no choice."

The sword was removed from her neck, and suddenly the world plunged into darkness.

* * *

When she woke up, she was lying on the ground in a small tent, and there was a girl sitting next to her.

"Hello," said the girl cheerfully. "I'm Tenten."

Sakura couldn't help but smile and respond in kind. "I'm Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you."

"It's an honor to meet you as well, Haruno Sakura." Tenten paused and turned around, adjusting something behind her. "You've been asleep for two days, so you might want something to eat." She handed Sakura a bowl of soup, at the same moment Sakura's stomach let out a loud complaint. Sakura began to dig in, and Tenten waited for a moment to continue.

"We are ninjas."

Sakura nearly choked.

"But- that's illegal!"

"You recognized them from their wanted posters, didn't you?"

"...Oh."

"Anyway, some people have particular talents... others of us are here for other reasons. You are a Healer. That is why Gaara pressed so hard for you to be saved."

Sakura remembered something about that.

"We need you, and we are not as evil as the police would have you believe. You'll have to trust me until you see this in action, but please help us."

"Why should I believe you?"

Tenten frowned.

"You don't have any reason to. But I will tell you this. We have never killed an innocent person. Most of the time, we remain out of sight. It is fascinating that Sasuke did not notice you, because that has never happened before. Although, I guess he was tired and stuff."

"Why was Sasuke so ready to kill me?"

"He didn't think you actually would choose death over coming with him. He's awfully stuck up like that."

Sakura sighed.

"So you guys protect the civilians?"

"We're kind of like... vigilantes."

This was too unreal.

"There are ninjas like that?"

Tenten nodded.

"Sometimes, the police call us for help. For when the regular police forces aren't up to a task or have their hands full. That's where we come in. It's more often than you'd think. But your town is awfully peaceful. Although we do have our leader, and we work for him, too. His cover is a merchant, and our general cover are as his agents. When people don't pay up like they should, we take over. The payment Sasuke was looking for was a small one." Tenten paused, then added, "I hear he just took it from the cash register. He's kind of a jerk like that."

Sakura was blushing at all the talk of Sasuke. This didn't get past Tenten.

"Ooh, you think he's hot, don't you?"

"N-no!"

Tenten sighed.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that you won't be getting him. He's rather... taken."

But Tenten wouldn't elaborate anymore, just telling Sakura that she needed to rest. Her training as a Healer was going to begin tomorrow.

* * *

So, what do you think? Continue, or not? I kind of like it, and if I can keep it up I think I'll write more.


	2. Chapter Two

Sakura woke up with a start from a vague nightmare involving sand and Sasuke's sword.

"Your training starts today!" Tenten said cheerfully. Sakura was confused for a moment, and then remembered about Tenten, and Sasuke, and all the other stuff that had happened..

And then it occurred to her.

"I'm not going back home, am I?"

Tenten's smile faded a bit.

"No, I'm sorry."

_My mom and dad... Ino... Am I ever going to see them again?  
_

"Now that you've come with us, we can't let you go. Also, your powers are pretty special, so I really don't think the group will let you go so easily. They're nice people, they really are, and they have their reasons for being here."

"What's your reason?" asked Sakura, curious.

"Me?" Tenten blushed. "Love, that's all."

"You left your family for love?"

Tenten shrugged.

"My dad's out there looking for me, and it's not like I don't miss him but I never saw much of him. He's the- he has a very busy job, and I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him. I do love him, and he loves me, but I think he always knew that I wasn't meant to carry on the family business like my brother was. Him and Dad were so much alike and they are good people, so I am glad that I left. If I had stayed, it would have been my fate to carry on the job- but I left. I'm not going to pretend it wasn't mostly selfish. I'm just saying it was good for me to leave, too."

Sakura nodded slowly.

"So who are you in love with?" Tenten had said Sasuke was taken- did she mean by herself?

"You haven't met him yet," Tenten said, and a faint blush spread across her cheeks. "His name is Neji- he's a ninja- he travels with this group. He's a bit- he's- well, he's kind of... cranky. He'll be teaching you some ninja skills- chakra control. It'll be explained later, don't worry about it. But he's awfully nice, once you get to know him. If you pay attention and treat him with respect he'll like you. He's awfully good at what he does, and he's very smart. He's the best of all of us with chakra control so we picked him to teach you."

Sakura wasn't sure whether she'd like this Neji or not.

"Anyway, if you need anyone to talk to," Tenten finished quickly, "come straight to me. But you've got to get ready now. Neji's very punctual, and your first lesson with him is today... in about ten minutes or so. Here's something to tide you over until lunchtime, I don't think you've got time for breakfast now."

She handed Sakura something that looked similar to granola bars Sakura's mom had enjoyed, so Sakura took a bite and chewed it thoughtfully. It didn't taste bad, and it was filling.

"Now go!" said Tenten, pulling her to her feet and pushing her out of the tent in one fluid move.

* * *

Outside of the tent stood a... Sakura wasn't really sure what it was. He looked like a boy about her age, but- but no boy she had ever met had such beautiful long black hair, and such girly eyes. They were oddly pale, too.

"I am Hyuuga Neji." He (apparently he was a he) bowed. "I suppose I am to thank Tenten for your early arrival."

Well, he was a bit rude.

"You are," said Sakura. Something about his attitude made her feel like she had to talk carefully. "Nice to meet you, I'm Haruno Sakura."

"A pleasure to meet you, too." He didn't look like it, but it was as much as she'd hoped for. "She told me I am to teach you chakra control."

"Yeah, she told me that too."

"Do you know what chakra control is?"

"Not a clue."

"I see..." He seemed to pause for thought. "I think... well, let's go look for someplace quiet." He glanced back to where Naruto had just entered.

"Oh, it's Sakura-chan!"

"We're going to go train," said Neji, and he sounded annoyed.

"Oh..." Naruto's shoulders drooped a little bit. "I was going to show her around and introduce her to everyone! Gaara's particularly interested 'cause she's gonna be an awesome Healer once she gets some training!"

Gaara... Sakura only remembered the voice, not the name. He was the one that saw that she was a Healer...

"You can do that after we train." Oddly enough, it wasn't as annoyed as before. When Naruto's shoulders had drooped, Neji had sort of sighed and dropped the irritated attitude.

"All right!" said Naruto, grinning again.

"See you later, Naruto. Sakura, there is a clearing just past there which is useful for the type of training we will be doing."

"All right."

He began to stride purposefully towards the left and she followed him.

"Here," he said, when they reached what she supposed was the clearing they had talked about. "Now, you haven't got any idea what chakra is."

"Right..."

"So... it's like your life force. When you run out, you die. You use it up daily and it's... regenerated, I suppose."

Her confusion must have been obvious, because he sighed and leaned his head back.

"It's hard to explain... I don't even remember how they explained it to me, it was so long ago. Maybe I ought to just show you."

When she just looked at him, confused, he made a sign with his hands, bringing them together palm-to-palm with the first two fingers standing up and the other two covering each other. He closed his eyes to concentrate.

When his hands began to glow faintly blue and crackle a little a second or so later, he spoke, keeping his eyes closed like he was still concentrating.

"My hands are glowing blue, correct?"

"Yeah..."

"That's what chakra is. You have it, too. Anyway, once you've gathered it, like I have here, it's a pretty flexible medium and you can do a lot with it- things that most people would consider magic- like this-"

Suddenly there was a giant puff of smoke and Tenten was standing before her.

"Tenten!" she cried out without even thinking about it.

Tenten smirked in a very un-Tenten-like move.

"Not quite," she said, although she- he?- used Tenten's voice. "I'm still Neji. I just _look _like Tenten. This is the art of Henging. Now, it's easiest to gather chakra when you've got the Tiger seal- that's the seal I was using earlier. Can you mimic it?"

She nodded and brought her hands together. It was an awkward move to make at first, her hands weren't used to forming that sign- or seal, as Tenten-really-Neji had called it- but it came easily.

"Now, that's how you control chakra. Try to- it's like bringing it _up_- I don't think you know what I mean."

She closed her eyes like he had, and concentrated.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she said after a moment, when she was starting to get frustrated. "Are there people who can't do it? Maybe I'm one of them."

"You're a Healer, according to Gaara and Naruto, of course you can control your chakra. I've only met one other person who couldn't. You're not him."

"All right..." She took his word for it, since he was so sure of himself.

"Oh- Try to picture it. That's how they taught us."

Now he remembers.

She pictured the glowing blue around her hands, tried to hear the crackling noises- and suddenly her hands were warm but now not just her hands her whole entire body down to her pinky toes she'd painted green last week- Warm, no, not warm, hot- Not hot, burning, all over- she was picturing the blue glow all over-

"That's good," he said in a calm, low voice. "Stop, that's enough."

She opened her eyes in response to his words, and suddenly the warmth receded suddenly. She looked down to see the faintest bit of blue dissipate on her skin.

He nodded approvingly.

"You have a decent amount of chakra... It'll do for being a Healer. Not as much as me or Sasuke or Gaara or Naruto or Tenten, certainly, but a fair amount. Don't use so much at a time. You haven't got enough that you can waste it like Naruto or Gaara can."

Sakura nodded.

"Now, to teach you the seals- there's more than just the Tiger seal. There are twelve, and you will need to memorize them. It took me... a day to have them memorized. You seem..." He paused, looking at her. "...Intelligent. I won't care if you haven't got the seals memorized for the next two days but beyond that- well, it wouldn't be smart of you to put it off."

She understood, and she knew she was smart. She'd always done well in school, she was good at memorizing facts. Memorizing a bunch of seals would not be a difficulty.

He showed her the seals, which he said he would do only once but if she needed any more help Tenten would probably be gracious enough to supply it (his expression brightened when he mentioned Tenten, Sakura noticed and it made her smile).

"Now, to practice gathering your chakra." He frowned a bit. "I need you to understand that this is the kind of stuff that people hone over years but you haven't _got _that time. This is a bit accelerated as far as learning goes. Now that we _have _a Healer, you need to be proficient. Any day one of our number could come back seriously injured and we would need a Healer, and you would need to be ready."

She nodded. "I get it."

He nodded.

"Anyway, for gathering your chakra there are a couple of simple ways to practice it, and they're useful skills to have, not just drills."

He walked straight up a nearby tree.

Sakura gaped at him.

"You have to gather it to your feet, instead of your hands. You use just enough to stick but not so much that you'll repel yourself. It's a hard balance to make, and it will need constant adjusting as you step, so watch out." He thought for a moment. "Just keep walking up the tree, don't worry about falling."

Walk... up a tree?

She took a tentative step toward the trunk of one, and he started to look annoyed.

"Just _go_, Sakura."

She put her right foot on the tree, picturing the blue crackly glow around it and suddenly her foot was pushed back like someone had punched it.

"Too much."

Well, duh!

She kept her annoyed thoughts to herself, though, because she didn't want to risk incurring Neji's wrath, and pictured the blue glow but only barely.

Her foot stuck. She smiled, and pulled her foot back down, testing that she could do it with the other foot before she started to run up the tree. Which, she could. But she didn't think she was quite capable of running straight up- wouldn't she fall backwards and hit her head on the ground- so she grabbed a low branch and put her feet on the trunk like she remembered doing in elementary school on the pull-up bars so she could go up and flip around.

They stuck, and so she let go of the branch.

And to her surprise, it was like walking on normal ground, but with a little more concentration involved. She made it up a few steps before she was startled by a leaf that fell on her nose and she lost it.

As she was recovering from the sudden trip downwards and hello, Mr. Ground, didn't your mother ever tell you it wasn't nice to come up so fast and so forcefully and painfully?- someone else came into the clearing. She heard the footsteps, but she didn't dare move much more than necessary in case something was broken.

She was pulling leaves out of her long pink hair when a voice she'd heard before remarked to Neji, "This is where I was going to train."

"I think she needs the training more than you," Neji muttered back, and Sakura pretended she hadn't heard him but that sounded like an awfully rude thing to say, and so she marched back up to the tree and did what she did before, only this time she walked at least halfway up the tree and turned around to stick her tongue out at Neji.

The boy beside him, who had red hair and a funny backpack glanced up as well as Neji, and she saw that his eyes were rimmed with black. For some reason, it reminded her of Naruto's whiskers. Maybe they were related? She suddenly realized that his voice was the voice of the guy that they called Gaara.

He said something in a low tone to Neji, so low that she couldn't hear it, but Neji nodded. It didn't look like they were going to tell her anything, though, so she turned around again and kept going up the tree, trying her darndest not to look down.

When she reached the top of the tree she sat down on a branch and waved to Neji and the red-haired boy below her.

Neither of them waved back. Neither of them looked very amused. Was she stupid or something? Was this something she was supposed to have gotten on her first try?

Then again, they weren't the type to do goofy things like random waving.

She stood up from the branch and discovered that going back down would be either very long and frightening or very fast and more frightening.

Very long and frightening seemed like a better option, and a less painful one, so she just kept going, trying her hardest to concentrate on that exact amount of chakra. Neji and Gaara watched her, which was fairly unnerving. Neji had those pale eyes, and Gaara had an eerie stare.

When she couldn't figure out how to land easily, she just jumped off and braced herself for the landing.

The landing... which never came. She found herself enveloped in soft (she didn't even know how sand could be soft, but it was), warm sand... which smelled sick-sweet-metallic like blood. She tried not to puke, and the sand set her down gently and flowed to the gourd-shaped thing on Gaara's back.

"The way you were landing," Gaara said in a tone that reminded her of the sand, soft and calm. "-You would have broken your wrist. And seeing as you can't fix it yet, it would definitely hinder your training."

Sakura stood up slowly.

"Um... thanks," she said, a little confused.

He shrugged. "You're welcome."

All of a sudden, Neji made a hand sign and veins around his peculiar eyes bulged.

"Good, Sakura, you still have chakra left."

She blinked.

"How do you know?"

He frowned. "Ask Tenten later. The point is, you can still train."

More training? She nearly groaned aloud, but Neji would not appreciate that so she kept her mouth shut.

* * *

After that, Neji made her walk on water, which was considerably harder but also the same kind of thing. Gaara... meditated or something, Sakura didn't know what, but she could see him from the river she was practicing standing on, and he was just... sitting there.

When her insides were _so sore_ for no apparent reason, her head throbbed, and she was dead tired, Neji did his eye-thing again and pronounced her chakra depleted, and sent her back to eat lunch.

She stumbled back into the camp.

"Sakura-chan!" cried Naruto out of nowhere. "Now I can show you around the camp!"

"Moron, she's out of chakra. She needs something to eat before you go _flirt _with her." Sasuke appeared out of nowhere, and Sakura felt blood rush to her face as he smirked in the direction of her and Naruto.

"I know what she should eat- ramen!"

"I bet she hates ramen, just like everyone but you," Sasuke groaned. "You've eaten ramen for three days straight. You need something healthy."

"Aw, Sakura-chan, you can't hate ramen, no one but stupid party-poopers like Sasu-chan here can hate ramen!"

"Ramen's all right..." Sakura said slowly, unsure if there was a right answer in this situation, and also unsure if she cared because she was going to pass out.

"Don't encourage him."

But when she looked at Sasuke, he was half-smiling, so there really wasn't any harm in it.

She agreed to eat lunch with Naruto, unless she fainted first.

* * *

"See, ramen is good!"

"Everything is good in moderation, dobe. Ramen is not good when you eat it all day, every day."

Sasuke couldn't have been too annoyed because he was making the ramen, and it was good ramen, too.

_Wow, he's a good cook... another addition to his list of perfections._

She ate her ramen happily, and Naruto was right, it really did hit the spot right after training. Her head was no longer throbbing and she was now able to keep her eyes open.

"Thanks," she said, truly grateful.

"Hn," said Sasuke, which she took as a response to her gratitude since he was the one who cooked it. Hey, it was something.

"Okay, now that you're done, let's go!" Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

"See, here's Sasuke's and my tent-" He pointed to a canvas tent colored by someone colorblind, and then Sakura looked at Naruto's clothes which were of the same odd combination of navy blue and unnatural orange and realized "-and then there's yours and Tenten's tent... haha, that phrase came out funny... Here's where there's a fire. We cook here most of the time! And that's Kakashi-sensei's tent-" This tent was a smart, camoflauging green. "-and there's Neji and Gaara's tent." Those two had made their tent the same green as Kakashi-sensei's. "And... um..."

"There wasn't much to show in the first place." Sasuke sighed, sounding annoyed. "But at least you know whose tent is whose. And where the kitchen-sort-of is. It's generally where we meet up."

"We have a house, too! But we don't stay there most of the time. Mostly we camp. I'll show you the house when we get there."

Sakura nodded. Naruto was so cheerful and friendly all the time.

"So, Sakura-chan, how do you like traveling with us so far?"

Naruto looked like he was actually asking in earnest, and Sakura couldn't help but answer him.

"It's all right... I miss my family," she admitted.

Naruto nodded, and Sasuke looked a little tense. "That's good, that you have family to miss," Naruto said, softly, as though he hadn't intended to say it but he did anyway.

"What about you?" she asked, hoping to change the topic. Sasuke looked... well, it made her nervous, and Naruto had gone a little bit quiet. "Do you like travelling?"

Naruto nodded, and acted cheerful again, although she wasn't sure if his heart was really in it.

"I love travelling! Although Sasu-chan here's a bit of a party pooper, and Kakashi-sensei's a pervert but you don't need to worry about him, Gaara's kind of scary sometimes but we get along and Neji's pretty cool mostly and Tenten's nice. Anyway, I'm going to become the best ninja ever!" He punctuated this by punching the air. "Sasu-chan likes being a ninja, too! We've known each other ever since we were little. He wants to-"

"Become a strong ninja as well," Sasuke interjected. Naruto looked at him and then grinned, scratching the back of his neck in a sheepish manner.

"Right! Sasu-chan wants to become a strong ninja as well!"

Sasuke nodded, as though he approved. Sakura didn't have to be a genius to know that there was more to the story.

Just then, though, what Sakura had thought was shadow on the side of a tree melted out and Neji stepped forward. Gaara appeared a second later from a different area.

"The police," said Neji in a low voice. "Where is Tenten?"

"Tent," said Sasuke.

"Right." Neji walked off to alert Tenten.

"It's unlikely that Kakashi doesn't know, where is he?" Gaara asked.

Sasuke and Naruto and Sakura looked around.

"Probably his tent," said Naruto.

His voice sounded a bit different, so Sakura turned to look at him.

His entire... Attitude? Tone? Countenance? Energy?

Whatever it was, it was completely different. His mouth was wide open in a grin, and Sakura noticed for the first time that his canine teeth were slightly elongated- more so than a normal person's might be. He looked like a wolf- no, not a wolf- a dog? Not quite that either. A tiger? A leopard? The answer would come to her in time, she was sure. Something with whiskers that was too doglike to be a cat and too catlike to be a dog.

"We gonna fight?" Naruto asked- or more like growled.

Gaara's mouth twitched a little in a smile. The dark circles around his light blue eyes were more pronounced, and Sakura had no trouble identifying an animal for him. He looked exactly like a raccoon she had once seen hissing at another raccoon before they fought.

Sasuke was contemplating their surroundings.

"We can't outrun them?"

"No," said Neji, who had just returned with Tenten. Tenten was in what Sakura assumed to be her battle gear. "Sakura, hide out in a tree... Gaara, you be in charge of protecting her, I haven't taught her any taijutsu yet and I doubt she knows enough to deal with any ninja."

"Hey, kiddos- Oh, looky here. What's your name?"

A silver-haired man in a mask came out of what Sakura remembered to be Kakashi's tent.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," said Sakura. He seemed friendly enough, if a little bit odd.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura. I'm Hatake Kakashi, and I am the leader of this little band. I hear you're a Healer?"

"I suppose I am," she said.

He nodded approvingly, and squinted his visible eye- the other one was covered by a forehead protector- in what looked like the top half of a smile. _What a weird guy, to cover his face all the time like that..._

"Well, that's good to know. I suppose we're still working on your talents?"

She nodded.

"Well, that's too bad that they won't be useful today. Guys, just be extra careful," Kakashi called out. "In the mean time, thank you for agreeing to come with us... Not like you had much of a choice, but you haven't run away yet..."

"I'm glad to help," she said, but the look Kakashi gave her let her know he heard how her voice went up a little too high.

"Well, Sakura, I hope you come to like us," he said in a joking tone, but he wasn't joking. "Anyway-" he turned to address the rest of the group. "The police are coming, so you've got to be ready. Especially you guys, Tenten and Neji, but not like you didn't know that already. It's a fairly small group and they're close by, and I don't think they know we're here, but you never know so be on your guard. They're not that skilled, so there might not be a fight today, but if there is be careful. Gaara, Neji told you to watch Sakura, right?"

He nodded.

"Good. At this rate, you guys aren't even going to need me anymore." Kakashi sighed and turned around. "But let's pack up now. We've been here for too long anyway."

Sakura helped fold up the tent she shared with Tenten in a daze. It was silent all around. There was going to be a battle? Here? She would witness it?

They had finished and were about to set off when Neji looked up suddenly and in the silence that permeated the clearing they were in, muttered, "They're here."

* * *

CLIFFHANGER.

Don't hate me, please! I like my chapters to last about 4,000 words. Don't ask me why. Anyway, like usual, let me know what you think! I haven't had much time with the Internet lately (road trip) so forgive me if I don't respond, but I love your reviews.

Is Naruto too chipper or cheerful or whatever? It's kind of worrying me. Sasuke's definitely too friendly... but then again, you've only seen him around Naruto.


	3. Chapter Three

Previously:

"They're here," Neji said quietly.

* * *

Naruto jumped up, grinning. "Yes!" he hissed in a very loud whisper. Sasuke had enough time to smack him on the head before the police burst in.

The leader of the group spoke.

"Hatake Kakashi-"

"You found this camp by accident," said Kakashi, and Sakura thought that he sounded amused. "Why don't you just pretend you didn't and go on your way?"

"You are under arrest for the kidnapping of-"

"Under arrest, my butt!" yelled Naruto. "He didn't kidnap her! Even ask her, she's here of her own volition-"

"Wow, dobe, that was three syllables in one word, I'm impressed," Sasuke muttered to Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The leader turned. "You're under arrest, too. Same crimes."

"You can't have him," said Sasuke, next to Naruto facing the man.

"Oh, really?"

This was when the leader passed out. Sasuke let him fall to the ground, shrugging and stepping aside from where he had suddenly appeared from behind him.

More police came. Sakura counted twenty of them and she was certain more were coming. Kakashi had said this was a small group?

"Haruno Sakura, hide _now_. If they find out you're here too we'll be in even more trouble."

"Wait, then who's Kakashi-san under arrest for kidnapping?"

Gaara looked at her as though she was stupid. Which she wasn't, and he had no right to do.

"Tenten, of course. " Oh, right, Tenten was the daughter of somebody rich who was no doubt spending all sorts of money to find her. "Now, go before they figure out who you are. I doubt they've figured out you're with us yet, and let's not make that too easy for them. I'm sure your disappearance hasn't gone unnoticed."

Sakura certainly hoped not, and she was about to say so, but then the fighting began because Kakashi would not come quietly, thank you very much, so she ran to a tree just outside the camp and made her way up, turning around to watch the fighting.

And holy cow, they were good at what they did. In blue bursts of chakra, Neji knocked out (he couldn't be killing them, Tenten had said they didn't kill people, which was comforting considering the large number of people collapsing) everyone who crossed his path. Kakashi had out his orange book and wasn't even looking up from it to deflect weapons or punches thrown at him. Sasuke and Naruto seemed to be dancing around each other, kicking and punching and dodging and flipping, simultaneously defending themselves and the other. They had a small pile of unconscious people which was growing by the minute. Tenten was throwing weapons left and right, although she wasn't under attack like the rest of the people due to the fact that she was their quarry.

And Gaara-

Gaara was merely sitting. Sand from the ground around him and from the ground around all the other ninja rose up at various times to deflect kunai that were otherwise probably tricky to dodge or hard to see. It also tripped more than a few ninjas, and Sakura noticed that what she could see of Gaara looked vaguely bored. She couldn't help but watch him. It was almost beautiful, the way the sand moved like water through the air-

"Aha- A beautiful flower of Youth blossoming in a tree!"

Sakura turned around, nearly falling out of the tree.

"Say, what is your name?"

A boy with a bowl cut and really big eyebrows who looked sort of familiar was there grinning at her.

"Uh, I probably shouldn't tell you," she said, confused.

He nodded.

"Right! Since it is only polite, I shall introduce myself first! I am Prince Rock Lee, heir to the throne of this kingdom, on a mission of great Personal Importance! Pray tell, does the lady down there go by the name of Tenten?"

The Prince? Looking for Tenten? Just who _were _these people?

"I don't think I should tell you that, either..."

She felt as stupid as she sounded. Mental note- next time, be ready to fight or else hide like an idiot.

"I see. Of course you can't."

He sort of stood there, smiling at her, with his big bulgy eyes and goofy haircut.

"Um..." she said, to break the silence. "Aren't you going to take me prisoner or something?"

"I cannot take such a lovely Blossom of Youth as yourself and lock her away in a dungeon." He seemed to contemplate something for a moment. "You are such a Beautiful Blossom of Youth, you cannot have joined these people voluntarily. I have an offer to make you. Will you come with me and be my Youthful Queen? I will protect you with my life!"

Sakura hadn't heard that many pickup lines in her life, but that was probably the worst one. Ever.

But the thought occurred to her that she might be allowed to see her family again.

_Mom, Dad_- She opened her mouth to agree.

And then- A part of her she'd never paid attention to before seemed to come out.

_**I'm on my way to become a Healer... And even though I don't know what that means yet- I know it's what I'm meant to do! CHA!  
**_

When it spoke inside her mind, its voice was loud and tempestuous and forceful, but it had _her own voice_, and suddenly she knew she could _never _say yes to Prince Lee's proprosal.

But before she could yell "Heck no!", sand appeared out of nowhere and caught the Prince by his ankles.

He fell backwards out of sight. She only had a second to worry before sand surrounded her, too, although more gently than it had the Prince. Her fall was slower than the Prince's, too, and she watched the green leaves pass by with only a vague sense of worry. Something about the sand was a little comforting, like she could trust it. Also, today totally seemed like a dream, and one never gets badly injured in one's dreams.

"Hello, Prince Lee," said Gaara.

"Subaku no Gaara-san! We finally meet! Come! Fight me!"

"Not today," Gaara said, ignoring him and flicking his wrist so that the sand jumped to pin Lee to a nearby tree.

To Sakura's (and Gaara's) great surprise, Lee jumped out of the way of the sand, dodging it and remaining in the same area.

"I must get my sister back!"

Neji glanced up.

"Your sister isn't coming back," said Neji. Sakura winced. That seemed a little harsh. Then again, Lee seemed undeterred.

"I shall rescue my sister from you madmen!"

He ran towards Neji, fist back and ready to strike.

"Not today you won't." Neji suddenly struck Lee on the neck, and he crumpled to the ground.

Tenten came up and pouted at Neji.

"Neji, be nice to my brother!" she scolded.

Suddenly the whole conversation registered in Sakura's head, and she remembered the story of the Princess who had disappeared some years back. She hadn't cared too much, but her parents had been sort of worried for awhile. The story had died down, with the occasional mention of "Our poor princess" on the streets or wherever.

"He's your brother?"

She gaped at Tenten, who nodded.

"You're the princess?"

Tenten nodded again.

"You gave that up?" She didn't even think about the next statement. "For life with _Neji_?"

Tenten chuckled, and Neji's expression went from amusement to annoyance.

"Not that I think you're a bad guy-" Sakura tried to fix it, but Tenten just giggled more and Neji just folded his arms.

"Hmph."

Even Gaara looked mildly entertained.

"I gave it up," Tenten said, "for life with Neji and as a ninja, which are the two things that make me more happy than anything else."

"I was a duke," Neji said, sounding as bored as if he was talking about the weather. "We both left behind duty for this. I haven't regretted it once."

That was kind of... romantic, actually. Sakura had a new awe for them.

"Guys, quit chit-chatting!" called Kakashi. "We've got to get out of here. Neji, I thought I told you not to harm the Prince."

Neji shrugged, while Gaara went to go pick up their tent. Naruto and Sasuke looked like they had been ready to go for ages.

Tenten picked up hers and Sakura's tent, while Sakura stood thinking.

_I nearly could have become Queen_... Sakura had a hard time imagining it. She'd never been anywhere near the Palace- she didn't even know what the current King and Queen looked like, and while she had lived a comfortable life back at home, it could never have been mistaken for luxurious.

"Sakura, let's go!" cried Tenten, snapping her fingers in front of her face. Sakura came back to reality.

"Oh, I bet you don't know how to run," Neji said suddenly. He appeared to have forgiven her for her comments earlier. Except apparently he thought she was stupid.

"I do too know how to run!" she said hotly. Somehow the voice had made her just a little bit more loud on the outside. She didn't stop to think about how she would never have responded that way the day before.

"Not the way that ninjas do." He took off, and instead of running on the ground he bounced around the trees. "That's how you'll need to run if you want to keep up with us."

_Oh_.

He continued.

"You just sent chakra to your feet so you bounce off. It takes a bit of getting used to, but you're good at chakra control..." He paused, and then smirked. "It seems like the only skill you have."

Okay, maybe he hadn't totally forgiven her. She winced (her ego hurt), and the rest of the ninjas (who hadn't heard his statement seeing as they were taking care of last minute things like the fire), took off.

* * *

Her pride was still smarting twenty minutes later, even after she had mastered the ninja run and was running just as fast as Neji. Right next to him, in fact.

"So, Sakura, you don't happen to know any taijutsu?"

She shook her head.

He sighed.

"Tenten's family was always good at taijutsu, she can work on that with you. Hey, Tenten!"

Tenten glanced up.

"Would you mind showing Sakura some basic taijutsu later?"

Tenten smiled.

"'Course not! I'd be happy to."

Sakura smiled back.

"Now, as for Healing techniques..." Neji said slowly. "I'm teaching you ninjutsu, but as far as Healing goes the only one of us who's ever known a Healer is Gaara, and so he's the closest we've got to someone who knows how it works."

"Really? You've met a Healer before? And you know enough about the training to teach me?" Sakura asked him curiously.

He nodded. "I know more about the training of a Healer than the average person or even the average ninja might, at least."

Sakura didn't find it wise to press him about it.

"Practice the seals, Sakura," Neji said idly. "We're traveling a long way, you've got plenty of time. I told you, two days and I won't feel sorry for you if you don't have it memorized. Actually, let's work on some ninjutsu right now."

Along the way, she learned the Henge jutsu from Neji and the Kage Bunshin jutsu from Naruto, who randomly filled the forest with a thousand Narutos all yelling, "LOOK, SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sasuke told him to shut up and they all disappeared.

"Right, sorry."

"Stealth, Naruto, is what ninjas do," added Kakashi. "Learn it."

Naruto just grinned and sped on past him.

"Dobe," muttered Sasuke. "What does he think he's doing?" He sped up to chase after Naruto, and after a moment Kakashi sighed and glanced back at Neji, Gaara, Tenten, and Sakura.

"At this rate, we'll lose them if we don't speed up. Can you handle it, Sakura?"

"Of course," she said sweetly. Though she could feel the voice... making a faint, grumbly noise... like it was a cat hissing in the back of her head.

"Good," said Kakashi, and they all started to run past her. She managed to speed up, too, and soon grew to enjoy the feeling of running at top speed through the forest.

* * *

After awhile, he spoke.

"Here."

And he stopped so fast Sakura nearly crashed into him.

Nearly. Kakashi noticed, but didn't say anything about it and for that she was grateful. Instead, he called out, "Guys, let Sakura and Neji go train. You can get the tents up by yourselves, Gaara, Tenten. But if for any reason they need help I expect- Sasuke, Naruto, listen- I expect that you guys help them. Got it? I'll get the fire started and we'll continue like normal from there."

Sakura _wished _she could have gone to set up the tent. Her next half an hour was spent forcing out every bit of her chakra for clones and Henging. She Henged into Tenten. She Henged into Neji. She Henged into Naruto. She Henged into Kakashi. She Henged into Gaara. And she Henged into Sasuke. A blushing, tomato-red Sasuke, but nonetheless a perfect copy of Sasuke. If anything could be so perfect as the real thing.

Neji nodded his approval.

"You have excellent chakra control for a beginner," he noted again. "Like I said before."

She smiled in forced gratitude but felt an odd stirring inside, like... like something else was there, too._ Silly. Impossible_. But she thought of the voice from before. Would it make an appearance?

"Let's go eat dinner," he said, sounding bored.

They went back to the camp only to find that dinner wasn't quite ready yet as Sasuke and Naruto hadn't come back with fish yet.

Tenten was prodding the fire idly with a stick and Gaara was staring at it like it alone knew the answers to the Questions of the Universe. Kakashi was sitting and reading the same orange book as before.

"How was training?" asked Tenten cheerfully.

Neji went immediately over to her and took her hand.

"Good," he said.

Exhausted and not particularly sure she agreed with Neji, Sakura sank down onto one of the logs they had put in a circle around the fire. She sat down next to Gaara, who glanced at her briefly and then went back to staring at the fire and ignoring everyone else's presence.

"What's taking them so long?" He groaned a moment later. Maybe he wasn't ignoring them so much after all.

"Eh, you know those two," said Tenten, dismissing it with a wave of the hand that wasn't attached to Neji's. "Probably fell in the lake they were fishing in."

Neji shrugged.

"We're ba-ack!" Naruto's voice sang out. "And we have lots of fish, even though Sasu-chan nearly scared them all away!"

"You mean, dobe, that _you _nearly scared away all the fish."

"No, I didn't! You did!"

"Only because I had to jump in after you after you fell in, you moron."

The two suddenly appeared in the trees, sopping wet, but Naruto was grinning and Sasuke had the slightest smirk on his face. He also had a basket of dead fish.

Which were all staring at Sakura with dead, cold, fishy eyes.

She didn't feel so hungry any more.

* * *

When dinner was over and Sakura had learned how to clean and cook fish without barfing from Tenten, it was bedtime. They retired to their tents, Kakashi announcing that Neji and Gaara were to go on a mission the next day. It was decided that Tenten would work on taijutsu with Sakura for the next two weeks.

When they were in the privacy of their tent, Sakura decided to ask Tenten about her past and get a real answer this time.

"Hey, Tenten?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you didn't tell me you were the Princess?"

"I was going to tell you... just not so soon. Do you mind?"

Sakura shook her head no without really thinking about it. Tenten went on.

"All the boys here, their crimes against the king that you had heard about? Yes, it was kidnapping of the Princess Tenten. Not being ninjas, not being... other things... Just stealing me away, which was false. And kind of silly, really. My dad and my brother don't get why I left. But it is better that way- I could never sit at home and rule a kingdom- I prefer to be outside, fighting crime with my Neji." Tenten smiled. "He's got a bit of an odd story, too. Maybe you'll find it out sometime."

"What's up with his eyes?"

Neji had told Sakura to ask Tenten, and now seemed as good a time as any.

"Oh, that. It's a familial trait. He sees chakra and other things, that's why he activates it to look at yours and see how you're doing and it's why we asked him to teach you about it." Tenten paused again. "Sakura, you aren't too hurt that I didn't tell you the truth, are you? But you see, I couldn't- I didn't know if you were going to run away or anything- but from what I heard from Gaara today, you could have left with the Prince and you didn't. So I trust you, y'know?"

Sakura blinked. How much of that conversation did Gaara know?

"I- I trust you, too," she said, and found the words to ring mostly true.

Tenten smiled.

"Good. I think of how badly this could have gone- I'm so sorry you had to be taken away from your family. You know, sometime you could maybe go visit them, you know. Tell them everything's all right."

Sakura nodded, thinking that visiting her family was a nice idea.

But the part of her from before- the part of her that had been locked away-

_**Just who do they think I am! I'm not some girly-girl that has to run back home! I'm going to be a Healer, and I am going to be good at it, SHANNARO! And I'm not going to go home until I'm done! **_

_**That's a promise! **_

_**CHA!  
**_

"Sakura- Sakura, are you okay?" She must have blacked out or something, because Tenten was looking at her, worried. "You went all dazed in the middle of our conversation."

"I'm fine," Sakura lied. "Just tired, is all."

"Oh- I'm sorry, I kept you up with all this talk!" Tenten covered her mouth with her hand. "I promise to shut up now, so you can go to sleep, okay? You must be exhausted, having used so much chakra in one day. Goodnight, Sakura."

"Goodnight, Tenten."

And with that, they both rolled over to sleep.

Although Sakura couldn't help but have dreams of herself being split in two.

* * *

For the next two weeks during Gaara and Neji's mission, Tenten woke Sakura up early to train and kept her up late. Training with Tenten was exhausting, although by the end of the two weeks Sakura started to notice results. Not that she had gotten super-strong in fourteen days, but that it was getting easier and easier to wake up and go through Tenten's training routine.

"Sakura."

It was dinnertime on the day that Gaara and Neji had returned, and Kakashi had placed himself beside her. This hadn't bothered her at all. She was usually intimidated by people like him. And Kakashi was a bit odd. But Sakura had never felt really nervous around him. He was honest if not talkative, and she felt that if he didn't like her he'd probably have dumped her off in the middle of nowhere awhile ago, despite her future usefulness as a Healer.

"Your disappearance has become sort of famous," Kakashi remarked out of the blue, putting down an empty bowl of food (when had he eaten? She hadn't even seen him remove his mask!).

"People are looking for me?"

He turned a page in his book, his visible eye following the words.

"Of course they are. And they're going to recognize you, too. Your hair's pretty distinctive, if you don't mind me saying." He would have said it even if he had thought she would have minded. Especially if he had, actually. But she didn't mind. "Sakura, I don't usually like to do this, it wastes chakra, but it would be bad for you to be seen in public the way you are, and we _are _going to be seen in public tomorrow. You've got to be under Henge. I don't really care how you look, just make sure it's nondescript. Got it?"

She nodded.

"Good girl," he said, and stood up, patting her head the way he might have done to a dog or something. "Bye, Sakura. Just remember, nondescript. Ask Tenten for help if you need any." He turned away to walk off to his tent, with his nose still in the book.

Something occurred to her.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei!"

He turned back, still staring at his book.

"What are we going into town for?"

He blinked and actually looked up at her.

"Oh, I didn't say?"

Sakura shook her head.

"Well, I ought to just tell you guys now. Since Sakura did a pretty fine job of catching your attention and all." Sakura looked around, and indeed, she had caught everyone's attention. Oops.

"Tomorrow we're going into a town near here. Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Tenten, stay in your usual groups and stock up on supplies and stuff. But Sakura, Gaara... you'll come with me. At least for a little while."

Sakura looked at Gaara almost involuntarily, and looked away almost as soon when she saw that Gaara was looking at her curiously, too.

Kakashi continued. "By a stroke of luck, I happened upon information pertaining to the whereabouts of an old friend of mine. She's expecting us tomorrow, though I can't say she's particularly thrilled about it. Anyway, goodnight, kids. Pack up and be ready in the morning."

Sakura had been hoping he'd give out more information, but he didn't. Instead, when they remained outside for another ten minutes, he reappeared through his tent flap and told them all to get to bed OR ELSE.

Which they did in record time.

* * *

**STOP: **

(**AN TIME**:) -plays the melody from Can't Touch This-

Yay for Inner Sakura! I originally wasn't sure if she was going to make an appearance (it's awfully hard for me to write her), and then Super-rat asked me if she would, so I thought of a place to put her. And then I thought of a better place in this chapter! So, yay!

I'm trying to make Sakura's character development as much like the manga as I can, but it's kind of tricky since I don't know much about what she was like before she was brainy-naive-straight-A-student except that she was unconfident about herself until Ino helped her and then confident enough that she dropped Ino like a hot potato when she wanted to. No, I didn't really think her ditching Ino over Sasuke was a positive reflection of her character in the least. But I still like Sakura, especially in Part Two.

As far as Inner Sakura goes: I am not sure how separate she is from Outer Sakura. I do not believe that they are so separate that they can converse, as they do in some fanfictions, although I think it's kind of fun when that's the interpretation used. I think that Inner Sakura is just a picture of what really goes on inside Sakura's head when she wants to say something but she has to say something else. But then again, the scene where Ino talks about Sakura having "two minds" (yes I did look that up) makes me wonder.

What do you guys think? Is Inner Sakura really so far apart from Outer Sakura that they will converse? I think they're kind of like... Um. Something squishy with a hard core. Anyway. There's the comparitively wishy-washy Outer, and the hellaciously stubborn Inner, but they make up one whole Sakura. Any suggestions on squishy things with hard cores? To completely my simile? Maybe like a caramel apple.

Or, more like a bullet dipped in caramel.

Oh. An addition to my above statement. Like with Ino's fight, Inner Sakura can occasionally be relied upon to take over. Whole Sakura could be flipped inside out, and end up like one of those candies which has the hard candy coating (of course to be Inner Sakura it would have to be like... having a candy dipped in metal) with the squishy Outer Sakura suppressed on the inside. But they'd still be like one person.

Dx This has gotten to be like a marathon AN, so I'm going to end it and ask you to review! :D Remember, reviewers get cookies!


	4. Chapter Four

LOL. I just realized. This is sooooooo crack fiction. But it's the serious kind.

Um, I forget what rating I put this at. If it wasn't T it ought to be.

Okay, on with the story.

* * *

Tenten shook her head.

"Eh, I still see pink highlights."

Sakura frowned. They had stopped just before they would reach the town so Sakura could Henge. She'd had a clear picture in her mind when she'd left- or she had thought she had. But she'd been trying to Henge into it for a half an hour now! The whole group was waiting, staring at her- Naruto anxiously, and Neji and Gaara and Sasuke like she was some boring play. Or whatever. Her hair was supposed to be brown, but it kept coming out pinkish, but too_ pink_ish to be mistaken for auburn.

"You don't know what you're supposed to look like," Kakashi remarked. "Try picturing it more clearly."

"This is taking too long," Gaara finally announced. "I have an idea."

He Henged himself into a girl with shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair and dark green eyes, darker than Sakura knew her own to be. "Why don't you just copy what I look like now?"

Sakura looked at him- her?- carefully, trying to memorize every spiky strand and upturned eyelash, and then made the seals. It didn't escape her recently-trained notice, either, that the mood of the group went from mildly amused to moderately tense and Gaara's choice of Henge seemed to be the crux of it all.

Well, if nobody was going to _tell _her what was going on, then she might as well just do it.

He poofed back into himself and she poofed into the girl at the same time.

He frowned, like she hadn't gotten it quite right. She pulled at a short strand- ugh, it was so _weird _to have short hair- and noticed it was almost red.

At least it wasn't pink.

"Good enough. At least a strawberry blonde is plausible," Kakashi said. "Keep that up, Sakura."

She nodded, and they began to walk into town, splitting up at the marketplace with strict orders to be back at the forest they had left from in two hours.

* * *

Sakura began to get slightly worried when Kakashi walked directly into the shadier part of town.

"Your hair's getting pinker," Kakashi said, frowning like she had better fix it right _now_. She put more chakra in her appearance. "Slower- I don't want you going from strawberry blonde to yellow-haired like Naruto in two seconds flat. Avoiding attention."

Sakura nodded and tried to keep the chakra at a constant, small, stream.

Gaara kept looking at her oddly. It was like-

_Oh... _ He must have known the girl he had Henged into.

"Who am I?" she asked him quietly, when Kakashi was busy terrorizing some booth owner for directions. He glanced up at her briefly, and then seemed to figure out what she was talking about.

"Someone."

Like that was an answer she was going to accept.

"Who?"

"Why do I have to tell you?"

His answer was at once forceful and quiet. It was short and callous and had every hallmark of an angsty past. Bitten off, was what she thought of, and it made that part of her brain she'd come to call Inner Sakura scream, _**Because I want to know, SHANNARO!**_

Except that wasn't really a good answer, and she couldn't think of any more plausible ones, so she ended up biting her lip and turning away.

"Come on guys, this way," Kakashi suddenly said cheerfully. Sakura had no doubt he'd heard their whole conversation. He probably knew who she was Henged as, too, considering his reaction earlier when Gaara had first changed it.

But he had said nothing- did that mean that he was going to just go with it? Did that mean she could ask him?

She would darn well try.

In the same instant she had resolved that, another thing occurred to her. Gaara was the member of the group she felt the least comfortable around, the least like she knew him. Sasuke- he was so hot, how could he be anything but sweet and amazing? Even if he was a little bit cranky at times. Naruto- annoying, but endearing. Neji- cranky too but he respected her enough and she respected him which led to some kind of weird friendship, and Tenten of course held the position of Number One Best Female Friend currently. Even Kakashi she could talk to and not be nervous around.

And yet Gaara never made overtures of friendship to her. The number of times he had even sat by her, voluntarily or otherwise, she could count on one hand, along with the number of their conversations outside of necessary communication.

"Here we are," said Kakashi, and Sakura had been fairly certain she was going somewhere with her thoughts and was slightly annoyed with Kakashi for interrupting them until the door to where they were apparently supposed to be headed opened and Sasuke came face to... well, _not _face... with the largest female chest she had ever seen.

It was all she could do to not scream and duck away. And okay, so it wasn't like the woman wasn't wearing a shirt but honestly Inner Sakura was wigging out and Sakura couldn't help but take a step back so she could at least see the woman's _face_ somewhere up there.

Gaara looked positively twitchy.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was completely unperturbed as usual. He bowed and did that funny thing that Sakura always assumed was a crinkly-eyed smile underneath his mask.

"Princess Tsunade, how are you doing today?"

"Save the act, Kakashi," the woman supposedly named Tsunade said, taking a very large swill of the sake bottle in her hand, "-and tell me what it is you want. I know this isn't social. You don't bring your little rugrats to social gatherings."

Sakura very much resented being called a rugrat, but on the other hand, she wasn't really enough of a ninja to be considered part of Kakashi's band so she wasn't really who the woman was calling a rugrat, right?

Kakashi's mood changed entirely, in the fluid space of a second. Kakashi was dead serious now.

"I am here, because this one-" he gestured to Sakura, "-is a Healer. Sakura, you can un-Henge now." Sakura formed the Hand seals.

Tsunade's eyes opened. Despite the giant bottle of sake, she evidently wasn't drunk. Sakura saw it in the way she moved and reacted quickly.

"You found yourself a Healer?" she asked, almost reverently. "I haven't seen one in ages, not since that Sand girl-" She lifted a hand towards Sakura gently, like she was going to reach out and touch Sakura's face, stopping herself at the last moment when Sakura flinched away.

Tsunade chuckled.

"I wouldn't harm you." She tilted her head, smiling. "These hands-" she held up her hands, wiggling her fingers, "-just like yours, they are for Healing. Not hurting."

"Tsunade is a Healer, too," Kakashi confirmed before either she or Gaara could ask. "She's famous across Konoha. She disappeared, though, several years back. And a great amount of trouble it was to find her again. You disappeared very well."

"I disappeared with the legality of ninjas," Tsunade muttered, leaning against the doorframe. She had looked twenty to twenty-five before, now she was starting to look older. Sakura was beginning to realize that her words were that of someone... much older than this woman looked. "That fool Gai- he was once a proud shinobi himself. And yet, when I see the horrors that it had come to- the talk of the cruelties in Mizugakure..." She shook her head, and straightened up again. "Kakashi, I will not take her on as a student. You know me better than that, you know how it was- you know what happened to him... You understand what happened to all of them."

"I understand perfectly why you stopped." Kakashi beamed again. "But that's why I do what I do- this country needs the shinobi, it needs the protection that an honest shinobi force can provide."

"And you are taking it upon yourself to lead that force? You always did have a bit of a problem with your pride."

"Well deserved pride."

Tsunade smiled, too.

"Maybe... just maybe, it was."

"It isn't just anyone that can split a lightning bolt, you know."

Tsunade laughed outright this time, a short bark of a laugh. "I remember that! Thought you were just some punky kid, and then you went and you did that and you had chakra burns it took me a week to Heal but you didn't care, you were too full of yourself." She paused, a slow smile spreading across her face. "So, Kakashi. Are you still that punky kid? Have you still got that- pardon the pun- _spark_?" Her eyes nearly glittered with amusement and something else Sakura wasn't quite sure of.

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm a bit too old and jaded... Though I've got a kid I think you'd like to meet. Says he's going to become the Hokage. I told him Gai abolished that title. He doesn't care a single bit. Says it at least weekly."

When the something else in Tsunade's eyes disappeared Sakura suddenly recognized it as _hope_.

"Weekly isn't enough, not now. He's got to think of it daily- hourly- minutely-"

"He only says it weekly because I put a restriction on how many times he could say it in a year. Got fed up with it, you see."

"A kid who follows restrictions like that will _never _get that title."

"I told him he could say it once a year."

Tsunade frowned.

"Who is this kid you're talking about, anyway?" She eyed Gaara. "Is it this one here? No, it can't be. I know exactly who _you _are, I know what you have inside," she said, gazing at Gaara in a way that obviously made him uncomfortable, because he stepped back a little and Sakura heard the sand rattling in his gourd. "I... met your sister once."

Gaara's eyes widened.

"Where?"

She shook her head.

"Never you mind. Kakashi, who were you talking about?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"It's... _that _boy."

Tsunade glanced at him curiously. Meanwhile, Gaara looked to Sakura like he was so close to breaking his calm hold over his expression that she was starting to want to inch away before he snapped.

"The only person I can think of that you might refer to as 'that boy' would be... Well, _that _boy- _his _son."

Kakashi nodded.

"It is that boy. Minato's son."

Suddenly, Tsunade turned around and disappeared into the back room.

"Sounds promising," she called back over her shoulder.

"He can do it, Tsunade. But he can't do it without help."

"And what sort of help do you expect an old hag like me to provide?"

"Help to a Healer."

"I won't train her," Tsunade continued to call from a back room they couldn't see. "But... I will-"

She reappeared in the doorway of the one room they could see into.

"I will give you this. Say, Kakashi, why did you bring these two along? And not that boy, if you were going to use his story to get me to help you?"

"I thought it might have been a bit too obvious." Kakashi smiled back at her.

"You always did have a lot of nerve."

"I always did _need _a lot of nerve."

She dumped a bunch of scrolls into a small bag and handed it to Sakura.

"These are my scrolls," she said quietly, staring into Sakura's eyes, and the only word Sakura could think of when she looked at Tsunade's eyes was _old_. Though _tired _also fit the bill. "I want them back." She straightened up again, staring at Gaara this time. "And where do you fit into all of this, young man?"

Kakashi explained. "You know of Gaara's ties to Healers. We appointed him to train her, seeing as he was the one among us closest to actually having seen Healer training. That was, of course, before I learned that I had a chance at finding you here."

"True... tell me, Subaku no Gaara, how much of her training did you see?"

"I did not see her actual training... I saw her practicing, and healing my brother."

"Why not you? Oh, right." She nodded knowingly. "Got it. Well, I suppose you're the best they've got."

Gaara shrugged.

"No, no, you'll do," Tsunade added. "Though when I met her your sister never seemed like she'd have the patience for Healing."

Gaara shrugged but he didn't look bored. "She never did." Sakura actually thought that if he were anyone else he might have smiled.

"Well, Kakashi-" Tsunade turned back to their leader. "Anything else you want to bother me with? I've got to pack, since it's obvious I can be found and now I've got to move again."

Kakashi shrugged.

"You could always come with us! Train Sakura yourself-"

"Not a chance."

"Worth a try."

"You've got brats to get back to, Kakashi. You have what you wanted." Tsunade glared at him.

Sakura could see Kakashi's lips twitch up underneath his mask.

"Tsunade, I found you once and I'll keep finding you."

"You do that."

"Don't doubt me."

Tsunade smiled. "I don't."

"Ja ne!"

"Oh- wait!"

Kakashi had raised his hands almost in a seal, but then he stopped.

"Anything else?"

"Girl." She pointed at Sakura. "Come here."

Sakura looked to Kakashi. He nodded.

"What's your name?"

"Haruno Sakura."

"Haruno Sakura, eh? There is one thing that I will explain to you, myself, because I am the only one who can tell you this."

Sakura nodded slowly.

"Your ability to attack is of secondary importance."

"Okay." Sakura nodded and was about to walk away.

"I'm not done yet!"

Sakura somehow managed to execute a perfect one-eighty on her heels.

"Sorry."

"It's all right. Now, let me finish."

Sakura nodded again.

"Tell me why that is."

Sakura thought.

"I have to focus on supporting the team medically, of course. And perhaps combat support if necessary, but mostly medical duties."

"_Wrong!_"

Sakura flinched at the harsh tone.

Tsunade sighed.

"Your first priority is to evade every attack. To never, _ever _get hit. No matter what."

Tsunade let a brief pause fall as the her meaning clicked in Sakura's head, and Sakura's eyes widened.

"If you die-" Tsunade spoke quietly, but Sakura heard every word clearly. "Who will keep your group alive?"

Sakura's mouth formed into a small "oh..."

"Get out of my sight, Kakashi."

"Done, Tsunade-hime!"

Tsunade chuckled, and Kakashi formed a few hand seals and touched Sakura's and Gaara's heads, and suddenly they were back in the forest again.

Neji, Tenten, Sasuke, and Naruto were sitting there looking bored.

"Hey, kids!" Kakashi said cheerfully.

"You're two hours late!" Naruto had risen to his feet and pointing at Kakashi in an accusatory manner. Sakura hadn't known it had taken that long.

Kakashi beamed.

"I brought you ramen!" he said, pulling out a cup of instant ramen.

Naruto's angry expression flickered a little, and then completely disappeared as he accepted the peace offering. Well, now Sakura knew that Naruto could be bought.

The rest of the group didn't look so thrilled, but just ignored it, and they began to run back at Kakashi's request. Tenten jumped a little closer to Sakura and leaned in to whisper something.

"Kakashi-sensei's always late."

Unfortunately, Kakashi heard them. He turned to glare at the girls.

"I heard that. I just get lost on the road of life."

Everyone but Sakura groaned.

* * *

When they arrived back at camp, Tenten took Sakura aside for a little training.

Instead of sparring, though, Tenten began the training with a little talk.

"Listen, Sakura? I know you haven't had much time to learn all this, and I never expected you to perfect it in a few weeks. I'm surprised you did as well as you did. I mean, you're not stellar, but you didn't have a chance at even outrunning an enemy before this, and now you can at least get in a few good kicks and punches. The thing is, though, you have _got _to learn faster. Kakashi wants you to be at least fight-worthy in a year, and able to Heal maybe some major wounds in two. So, I've been doing some thinking."

"Yeah?" Sakura asked cautiously. She didn't know where Tenten was going with this.

"You're awesome at chakra control. Like, Neji's impressed at how far you've come since you learned about it... though you're nowhere near what is necessary for complex jutsu, of course. But you're not particularly strong, your only really special skill that we know of is something you didn't even know about until two weeks ago, much less have trained, and you can't possibly already understand the shinobi lifestyle fully enough to really have committed to it."

Sakura didn't much like hearing this, and Inner Sakura was back there screeching her head off about how rude that sort of thing was to say, so she remained silent to seethe.

"So, I say we work on one problem at a time," Tenten said brightly, seemingly unaware of how her previous statement might have been (_had _been) taken. "I say you get stronger for now, and we'll worry about the rest a bit at a time. Oh!"

She glanced up and back, and Sakura followed her gaze.

Sand trickled out of a nearby tree. A low, leafy branch obstructed Sakura's view of who was sitting there- though she already knew- until-

Gaara dropped out of the tree. He landed very gracefully, as a ninja ought, and stood up slowly. His was the sort of presence that wasn't easily ignored, and Tenten didn't continue talking after she had seen him.

"I wanted to observe your training," Gaara said simply to explain his presence. "To see how you were doing."

Tenten nodded.

"Well, in that case, do you have any ideas? I had one, but-"

"I don't think she should use the weights," Gaara said, frowning at Tenten. "That doesn't seem her style."

Tenten's shoulders drooped.

"But that's the only training I'm good at teaching!"

Gaara shrugged.

"Well, I guess you can use them... if you really want. But I found something among the scrolls Tsunade-sama gave to us."

He handed it to Tenten.

"Uh, that's really hard," Tenten said, scratching her head.

Gaara nodded.

"She needs to practice more," said Gaara. "She's got very good chakra control for someone who's only been practicing for about a month. It took years for Naruto to walk up a tree."

Tenten giggled in a good-natured way. "Don't be too harsh on him, he's got it worse than the rest of us. Hey! You should know."

Gaara shrugged, but Sakura could swear she saw his lips turn up at the corners a little bit. Which was about equal to a normal person's laugh, anyway.

"Anyway, Sakura, I think we'll save this for later. Heaven knows I couldn't do this jutsu. So, we'll fit her with the weights?" she asked Gaara.

Gaara surveyed Sakura for a moment.

"If you want to so badly, it couldn't hurt."

"Here," said Tenten excitedly, turning to Sakura. "These go around your ankles." Tenten put in Sakura's arms a pair of bands. She nearly fell over with the weight. "We'll add to them over time."

"Um, okay," said Sakura slowly, fastening them around her ankles. She could still lift her feet, but barely.

"Training's over, to give you awhile to get used to having them on. But it's back tomorrow!"

Tenten skipped out of the clearing, probably just because she could. Sakura managed to drag her feet back to camp. Goody. Training tomorrow.

Sakura could hardly wait.

* * *

AN TIME

Ouch. Orthodontia is _so _much fun. But on the bright side, I am thrilled about something else entirely. Long story. But yeah, I just felt like posting something today. I'm so sorry I briefly abandoned this! Anyway. It's four in the morning, and I think I will go to bed. :D Have I said I love reviews lately? Well, I do. HINT HINT HINT Even if I don't manage to reply to it promptly or even by the next chapter (in which case I completely and sincerely apologize sometimes I'm not so great and I'll think I've responded when I haven't), reviews are love.

Thanks for reading! :D Hope to see you next chapter! Which, um, there is no time frame for as of right now but it is in the works.

This I believe is the shortest chapter-ending AN I have ever written.


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